Currently Watching La Grande Seduction / Seducing Doctor Lewis (Original French Version with English Subtitles) see related

Salut!  Je suis tellement contente...l'autre soir on était chez le prof de Ben, elle nous a invité au souper.  Elle est un grand fan de la littérature canadienne, puis une fois pendant que j'ai raconté des histoires des îles, elle a dit "ca me rappelle d'un film..." Bref, elle avait La grande séduction DVD!  Enfin j'ai pu montré ce petit trésor à mon mari et j'ai tellement adoré...de voir les paysages et surtout d'entendre l'accent québecois encore une fois!  Des expression que j'ai oublié, les sacrements, j'ai tellement rit, tellement adoré! Ca m'avait tellement rappellé des gens aux iles et à St-Jos.  C'est presque rendu comme une autre vie, si loin de ma vie en Europe, dans le passé.  Mais nous pouvons toujours nous imaginer au Québec, et peut-être un jour on va y retourner. 

On Friday night we were invited to dinner at one of Benni's profs apartments, for whom he was a tutor. This is not normal for German profs at all, so it was great. We were there with another tutor and a PhD candidate/lecturer.  Fotunately I fit in since I have just gotten back into uni life by teaching 3 English classes there. And they all study/teach literature and are particular fans of Canlit.  We had a delicious bbq on the balcony, good wine and conversation... It was the first time in a couple of years where I've had a really intellectually stimulating conversation, or been around people who study something that I am interested in. (other than my husband of course)  Last year's quantitative research "public policy" MA fiasco totally scared me of from any further studies; I felt stupid and incapable of studying or doing research...but that's cause the topics did not interest me.  Statistical computer programs do not interest me. I am not good at math.  I hate math.  But I was reassured that you can still study things that involve words and not equations. 

I dreamt of university and studies all night.  I have been thinking and praying about continuing studies in a Canadian Studies field, which is what I was always passionate about. Esp French Canadian issues bien sûr. I have been very cautiously pursuing more information, as I have no desire to make another mistake.  But I am 25, have no kids, have free time and don't want to be in this job my whole life, so it might be the time to seize the opportunity.

To top it off, the prof leant me the great Quebec film La grande séduction which I couldn't find anywhere here.  Home! 

HELP - ROOM WANTED - VANCOUVER

Hello friends especially those with contacts in Vancouver.  A friend of mine, Eve, 30, is going to Vancouver for 3 months (Sept - end of Nov, 2007) and she needs a room to rent.  Yes she can pay!  She's Swiss!  She's going to work on her English and have fun enjoying the Vancouver area.  She'll be studying English at a language school downtown and wants to rent a room with a Christian family/couple/singles.  Please let me know if you have any lead for her!!

It is a hot, cloudless day in Konstanz, 28 degrees C as I read about snow being dumped on my Charlevoix.  Dommage.

I am trapped inside planning and writing course overviews and handouts for the 3 university English classes I am starting to teach this week.  It's good to try something new, I'm sure it will be a good experience, but I am feeling so lazy.  Hard thud back to reality after a fabulous vacation in France.  Provence was wonderful, warm, lavender scented and especially the FOOD.  Les délices du Lubéron...on a bien mangé et buvé.

Salade à chèvre chaud

Currently Reading Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist By John Piper see related

Toujours Provence

On part pour la France demain...je ne sais pas ce que nous attend, mais j'ai hâte à parler en francais encore une fois... de voir quelque chose de nouveau.

Tomorrow we leave for France--driving a rental car through Switzerland to our first destination, the new Torchbearers Bible school near Grenoble.  Then kayaking on the Ardèche river and touring Provence.  Expected highs 20°C every day...but camping in the evenings will be un peu froid.

à plus

return to my summer home

Last weekend we put up my tent in the Tiefhof to make sure it is still in working order.  I call it my summer home.  This beloved tent was with me through 2 whole summers living in the islands in 2003 and 4...I have the utmost affection for it.  The memories, the independence and freedom, the insecurity and loneliness, the adventure of living in a woods for 3 months, being found by police in PEI or hiding it behind a bush to sleep in a public park waiting for the ferry.  I loved waking up to the smell of the evergreen forest and was afraid when stumbling through it blindly in the wee hours of the morning after a night au Pas Perdus, pushing through the branches, having never remembered a flashlight.  The glow in the dark zipper pulls guided me home.  I love my tent!

Last year it wasn't used it all, and I vow never to go another summer without sleeping outside. So we're taking it on a trip to France!  Next week we're renting a car for a road trip through Switzerland to the Ardeche and Provence regions of southern France.  J'ai hâte!!  Un peu de vacances va faire vraiment du bien, surtout dans la langue d'amour avec mon amoureux...